Adipic acid dihydrazide compounds

The following protocols make use of the compounds adipic acid dihydrazide and carbohy-drazide to derivatize molecules containing aldehydes, carboxylates, and alkylphosphates. The protocols are applicable for the modification of proteins, including enzymes, soluble polymers such as dextrans and poly-amino acids, and insoluble polymers used as micro-carriers or chromatographic supports. 

Aldehyde-containing macromolecules will react spontaneously with hydrazide compounds to form hydrazone linkages. The hydrazone bond is a form of Schiff base that is more stable than the Schiff base formed from the interaction of an aldehyde and an amine. The hydrazone, however, may be reduced and further stabilized by the same reductants utilized for reductive amination purposes (Chapter 3, Section 4.8). The addition of sodium cyanoborohydride to a hydrazide-aldehyde reaction drives the equilibrium toward formation of a stable covalent complex. Mallia (1992) found that adipic acid dihydrazide derivatization of periodate-oxidized dextran (containing multiple formyl functionalities) proceeds with much greater yield when sodium cyanoborohydride is present. 

Carboxylic acids may be covalently modified with adipic acid dihydrazide or carbohydrazide to yield stable imide bonds with extending terminal hydrazide groups. Hydrazide functionalities don t spontaneously react with carboxylate groups the way they do with aldehyde groups (Section 4.5, this chapter). In this case, the carboxylic acid first must be activated with another compound that makes it reactive toward nucleophiles. In organic solutions, this may be accomplished by using a water-insoluble carbodiimide (Chapter 3, Section 1.4) or by creating an intermediate active ester, such as an NHS ester (Chapter 2, Section 1.4). 

Most proteins contain an abundance of carboxylic acid groups from C-terminal functionalities and aspartic and glutamic acid side chains. These groups are readily modified with bis-hydrazide compounds to yield useful hydrazide-activated derivatives. Both carbohydrazide and adipic acid dihydrazide have been employed in forming these modifications using the carbodi-imide reaction (Wilchek and Bayer, 1987). 

Dissolve 160 mg of adipic acid dihydrazide (Aldrich) in 5 ml of 0.1 M sodium phosphate, pH 6.0. Some heating of the tube under a hot-water tap may be required to help solubilize the compound. Cool to room temperature. 

To make an amine derivative of dextran, dissolve ethylene diamine (or another suitable diamine) in 0.1 M sodium phosphate, 0.15 M NaCl, pH 7.2, at a concentration of 3 M. Note Use of the hydrochloride form of ethylene diamine is more convenient, since it avoids having to adjust the pH of the highly alkaline free-base form of the molecule. Alternatively, to prepare a hydrazide-dextran derivative, dissolve adipic acid dihydrazide (Chapter 4, Section 8.1) in the coupling buffer at a concentration of 30 mg/ml (heating under a hot water tap may be necessary to completely dissolve the hydrazide compound). Adjust the pH to 7.2 with HC1 and cool to room temperature. 

The following protocol describes the modification of DNA or RNA probes at their 5 -phosphate ends with a bis-hydrazide compound, such as adipic acid dihydrazide or carbohydrazide. A similar procedure for coupling the diamine compound cystamine can be found in Section 2.2 (this chapter). 

The reaction of an excess of adipic acid dihydrazide with aldehyde groups present on proteins or other molecules will result in modified proteins containing alkyl-hydrazide groups (Fig. 96). Another bis-hydrazide compound, carbohydrazide, also may be employed with similar results, except that the spacer afforded through its use is considerably shorter. Target aldehydes may be created on macromolecules according... 

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